Risk of Brain Cancer from Cell Phone Use Underestimated by At Least 25% in Interphone Study, According to Scientific Presentation Today at the Bioelectromagnetics Society Risk of Brain Cancer from Cell Phone Use Underestimated by At Least 25% in Interphone Study, According to Scientific Presentation Today at the Bioelectromagnetics Society
Audio Interview with Lloyd Morgan on the poster presented at the Bioelectromagnetics Society meeting, “Re-evaluation of the Interphone Study: Application of a Correction Factor”
Press Release
Contact: Camilla Rees, MBA
ElectromagneticHealth.org
crgr@aol.com
415-992-5093/917-359-8450
or
Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc.
c/o Seoul Kyo Yuk Mon
Hwa Hoe Kwan Hotel
Seoul, Korea
Tel. +82-2-571-8100
Bilovsky@aol.com
ElectromagneticHealth.org
crgr@aol.com
415-992-5093/917-359-8450
or
Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc.
c/o Seoul Kyo Yuk Mon
Hwa Hoe Kwan Hotel
Seoul, Korea
Tel. +82-2-571-8100
Bilovsky@aol.com
Risk of Brain Cancer from Cell Phone Use Underestimated by At Least 25% in Interphone Study, According to Scientific Presentation Today at the Bioelectromagnetics Society
The poster report, called “Re-evaluation of the Interphone Study: Application of a Correction Factor” (Download here), was prepared by L. Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc. of Berkeley, CA, Senior Research Fellow at the Environmental Health Trust, USA; Michael Kundi, Professor of Occupational Health and Epidemiology and head of the Institute of Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; and Michael Carlberg, M.Sc. of the Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden. The re-evaluation applies a correction factor to Interphone study results, calculated using the geometric mean value of the published odds ratios for less than five years of cell phone use.
Ironically, the most common finding of the Interphone study is that use of a cell phone ‘protects’ the user from a brain tumor. However, adjusting for the systematic underestimation of risk from the Interphone study’s design flaws, as revealed by protective odds ratios, the authors of “Re-evaluation of the Interphone Study” conclude that the Interphone Study underestimates overall results by at least 25%.
The May 17, 2010 published Interphone study results did indicate risk of brain tumors after 10 years, but only in Appendix 2. However this re-analysis shows that the overall uncorrected Interphone study results substantially underestimate the risk for malignant brain tumors from cell phone use.
Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc., says, “In one Interphone study, by Lahkola et al (2008), which included results from the U.K. and four Scandinavian countries, the published Interphone results found virtually no increased risk of meningiomas. But when our correction factor was applied, using the mean value of the original odds ratios, not only was risk of meningioma found, but for every year of cell phone use, a person’s risk of meningioma increases by 24%. For every 100 hours of cell phone use there was a 26% increased risk of meningioma, a tumor of the lining of the brain, the meninges.”
Morgan says, “What we have discovered indicates there is going to be one hell of a brain tumor pandemic unless people are warned and encouraged to change current cell phone use behaviors. Governments should not soft-peddle this critical public health issue but instead rapidly educate citizens on the risks. People should hear the message clearly that cell phones should be kept away from one’s head and body at all times.”
In another Interphone study example, by Hepworth et al (2006) in the U.K., Morgan says the original Interphone results found a 24% increased risk of glioma, from ‘regular’ use on the same side of the head as the phone was used. When results were re-adjusted, applying the correction factor, the increased risk of glioma becomes 55% for ‘regular users’, defined as someone who uses a cell phone only at least one time a week for more than six months. After 10 or more years of use, the risk for glioma, a malignant brain tumor, among ‘regular’ users in this study doubled.
Recalculated Risk of Brain Tumors for 6 of the Interphone Studies
The table below, from “Re-evaluation of the Interphone Study: Application of a Correction Factor” (LINK), recasts results from six of the Interphone studies, correcting for the bias in the odds ratios. It demonstrates significantly increased risk for meningiomas, brain cancers and acoustic neuromas from cell phone use compared to the Interphone results published in May 2010 in the International Journal of Epidemiology and the 14 previously published studies.
Bold indicates statistically significant risk estimates. Font size increases by one for every order of magnitude decrease in p-value.
* Glioma
Download Table
Audio Interview with Lloyd Morgan Reviewing the 6 Interphone Studies To Which the Correction Factor Has Been Applied
Michael Carlberg, M.Sc. of the Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden, says, “The original Interphone results have severe problems with bias which results in underestimations of risks. Applying the correction factor shows that the actual risk is higher than the originally presented odds ratios, with several statistically significant results.”
The design flaws in the Interphone study protocol were exposed last August in the report, ”Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth behind Interphone”, co-authored by Morgan and endorsed by over 40 leading scientists worldwide (http://snurl.com/wdgbd). In May 2010, on publication of the first pooled Interphone study results, 5 ½ years since data collection was finished, a preliminary technical analysis was prepared called Counter-View of the Interphone Study (http://sn.im/x80he).
The poster presented at today’s Bioelectromagnetics Society meeting in Seoul, Korea quantifies the impact of the systematic skew toward underestimation of risk of brain tumors from the design flaws, evidenced by the protective odds ratios. Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc., its lead author, says, “Re-evaluation of all Interphones studies using this correction factor is now called for and the new results should be re-published. In addition, in cases where Interphone data has still not yet been published, such as studies assessing risk of getting an acoustic neuroma or salivary gland tumor from cell phone use (tumors closer to where a cell phone is placed against the head), the raw data should immediately be released so other scientists can now properly analyze the data.”
The Bioelectromagnetics Society, in its journal BioElectroMagnetics, publishes independently peer-reviewed research and review articles on experimental, theoretical, and clinical aspects of the interaction and application of electromagnetic fields and waves in biological systems. This week’s agenda at The Bioelectromagnetics Society’s Annual Meeting in Seoul, Korea can be found at: http://www.bioelectromagnetics.org/bems2010/
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